The Hindu : Front Page : Two Anna varsity campuses to be declared tobacco-free

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Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
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Two Anna varsity campuses to be declared tobacco-free

Ramya Kannan

Ban on sale and use of tobacco
First university in State to impose ban

CHENNAI: On Wednesday, two campuses of Anna University in the city – MIT Chromepet and Guindy campus – will be declared “tobacco-free” zones.

Covering 20,000 students and over 1,600 teaching and non-teaching staff members, the ban will be complete – on sale and use of tobacco products, including cigarettes, beedis, and chewable tobacco products such as pan masala and guthka. Anna University is the first educational institution in the State to give effect to such a ban, having volunteered to declare its campus “tobacco-free.”

Vice-Chancellor D.Viswanathan said: “While there are rules that prohibit smoking, we have to create awareness among students about the ill-effects of smoking and inhaling second-hand smoke. They have to be told periodically that smoking and using tobacco products is injurious to health.”

Director of Public Health P. Padmanabhan said the university had approached the Health department for certifying the campus “tobacco-free.” March 12, being a No-Smoking Day, seemed the perfect occasion to launch the programme, he said.

The key components of the project include putting in place a ban on sale of tobacco products on the campus or within 100 feet of the educational institution; getting students to take an oath to stay off cigarettes and chewable tobacco products; and setting in place a monitoring system to check if the ban is being implemented.

Stress on reforming

According to Prof. Viswanathan, the rules would be put up on the notice board. Violators would be warned initially, and discussions would be held with their parents or guardians. However, he said emphasis would not be on punishing, but on ‘reforming’ students.

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